Post by jean on Feb 27, 2024 9:31:59 GMT -5
State Leaders do not care about our health
Read this article and contact them in opposiiton
GOP’s ‘forever’ chemical bill should stay dead
Does the Republican supermajority in the State Legislature not understand the word forever?
Or are they simply willing to gamble the future health of Hoosiers and the environment for the sake of short-term financial gains?
In the latter case, they must also have trouble understanding the most basic component of economic development: quality of life.
House Bill 1399 would have limited the definition of PFAS chemicals — known as “forever chemicals” because they continue to contaminate the environment for thousands of years — to exempt from regulation more than 5,000 variations, including many already used by manufacturers with facilities in Indiana.
Thankfully, the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee scuttled the bill Monday after it passed the House last week on a 64-30 vote along partisan lines.
Of course, there’s always the danger that language from HB 1399 could be inserted into another bill before the legislative session ends in mid-March.
The impetus for the bill comes, not surprisingly, from chemical companies that want Indiana to stay out in front of potential additional federal regulation of forever chemicals.
But the state would be shortsighted to side with chemical companies over resident Hoosiers, who risk exposure to serious health risks. Forever chemicals have been directly connected to kidney cancer, organ dysfunction, endocrine system disruption, immune system suppression, reproductive abnormalities and childhood developmental issues.
Among other uses, forever chemicals render cookware non-stick and carpeting, clothing and cosmetics stain-resistant and waterproof.
These applications do improve quality of day-today life, but the tradeoff is unconscionable.
Forever chemicals were first used in household products in the 1940s and over the past eight decades have seeped into our soil and water supplies — not to mention our bodies.
They are now found in the blood of people and animals across the planet, as well as in the food supply and a wide array of consumer products.
This brings us to the quality- of-life issue.
House Bill 1399 would have further entrenched Indiana as a businessfriendly state in the short term, perhaps encouraging manufacturers that use forever chemicals to set up shop here.
But in the long term, who wants to live in and do business in a state that doesn’t protect its residents from what essentially amounts to the release into the environment of poisons that will linger for hundreds of generations?
While some other states are seeking to further regulate forever chemicals, Indiana seems headed stubbornly and stupidly in the other direction.
The Senate Environmental Affairs Committee did the right thing by killing this bill. Any lawmakers thinking about amending its language into another bill should instead ruminate on the meaning of “forever.”
— The Herald Bulletin Editorial Board
Read this article and contact them in opposiiton
GOP’s ‘forever’ chemical bill should stay dead
Does the Republican supermajority in the State Legislature not understand the word forever?
Or are they simply willing to gamble the future health of Hoosiers and the environment for the sake of short-term financial gains?
In the latter case, they must also have trouble understanding the most basic component of economic development: quality of life.
House Bill 1399 would have limited the definition of PFAS chemicals — known as “forever chemicals” because they continue to contaminate the environment for thousands of years — to exempt from regulation more than 5,000 variations, including many already used by manufacturers with facilities in Indiana.
Thankfully, the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee scuttled the bill Monday after it passed the House last week on a 64-30 vote along partisan lines.
Of course, there’s always the danger that language from HB 1399 could be inserted into another bill before the legislative session ends in mid-March.
The impetus for the bill comes, not surprisingly, from chemical companies that want Indiana to stay out in front of potential additional federal regulation of forever chemicals.
But the state would be shortsighted to side with chemical companies over resident Hoosiers, who risk exposure to serious health risks. Forever chemicals have been directly connected to kidney cancer, organ dysfunction, endocrine system disruption, immune system suppression, reproductive abnormalities and childhood developmental issues.
Among other uses, forever chemicals render cookware non-stick and carpeting, clothing and cosmetics stain-resistant and waterproof.
These applications do improve quality of day-today life, but the tradeoff is unconscionable.
Forever chemicals were first used in household products in the 1940s and over the past eight decades have seeped into our soil and water supplies — not to mention our bodies.
They are now found in the blood of people and animals across the planet, as well as in the food supply and a wide array of consumer products.
This brings us to the quality- of-life issue.
House Bill 1399 would have further entrenched Indiana as a businessfriendly state in the short term, perhaps encouraging manufacturers that use forever chemicals to set up shop here.
But in the long term, who wants to live in and do business in a state that doesn’t protect its residents from what essentially amounts to the release into the environment of poisons that will linger for hundreds of generations?
While some other states are seeking to further regulate forever chemicals, Indiana seems headed stubbornly and stupidly in the other direction.
The Senate Environmental Affairs Committee did the right thing by killing this bill. Any lawmakers thinking about amending its language into another bill should instead ruminate on the meaning of “forever.”
— The Herald Bulletin Editorial Board